Abraham Louisiana

Photo courtesy of the CIA
CAP Lt. Col. Sharon Storey, a CIA
employee, shepherds a flock of
cadets through the agencyʼs
famous foyer on one of many tours
the Civil Leadership Academy
Class of 2010 enjoyed during its
week in Washington, D.C.
After joining CAP’s Massachusetts Wing in 1979,
Staples took advantage of his cadet years, advancing to
serve as cadet commander and achieving the Gen. Carl
A. Spaatz Award, the highest honor a cadet can receive.
He is now a major in the Maryland Wing. His
involvement with CLA since its inception seven years
ago demonstrates his interest in helping current
generations of CAP cadets.
Citing CLA as one of the best programs with which
he’s dealt, Staples called it “wonderful for those who are
interested in government service and how government
works.” He likes the traits he sees in the CAP cadets
who typically participate in CLA.
“Most have higher ranks, captains to colonels, with
several years of education already behind them,” he
noted. “And most are good students with an interest in
serving the U.S., whether through the military or
government. The CLA experience helps them make
informed decisions on what they want to do after their
formal education.”
While at the State Department, CLA cadets toured
the operations center to see how the U.S. stays in touch
with its embassies and traveling executives and how it
responds to global emergencies. “I also try to get them
into the diplomatic reception room, which is filled with
a historic collection of early American furnishings from
the 1700s,” Staples added.
At lunch, five or six desk
officers, who help collect and
analyze data by country for one
of the State Department’s six
geographic bureaus, visit
informally with the cadets, who
have the opportunity to leave
their contact information with
the officers for possible followup.
If a department principal is in-house, the cadets get
a photo opportunity.
Staples’ years as a cadet preceded the CLA program.
Instead, participation in the International Air Cadet
Exchange established his career path to public service.
It began when he accompanied some Israeli cadets
on their activities in Boston. The friendships he
formed continued through letters, where the cadets
discussed such geopolitical topics as terrorism and
Israeli-Palestinian relations.
By the following summer, Staples was off to Israel for
his own IACE experience. Placed with a family near Tel
Aviv, he reconnected with his Israeli friends. “It was an
eye-opening experience to see how the Israelis live dayto-day,”
he said.
When it came time for college, Staples chose to study
political science and history at the University of
Massachusetts-Boston. A professor there helped steer
him to the State Department, where he’s been ever since.
For Staples and anyone else who decides to enter
public service, a real challenge comes when an opinion
must be subordinated to a decision made higher up the
administrative chain. “You have two options,” he said.
“Live up to your oath or resign. You have to abide by
and support the decisions of the president and the
secretary of state.”
What keeps him at the State Department — where
Civil Air Patrol Volunteer 32 April-June 2010